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Jdbaker71

macrumors newbie
Nov 29, 2017
3
4
Hey there! I don't know if you've found a solution to this yet, but I was just having the same problem and after some troubleshooting, I got my preview icons to work again!

Basically I opened up Activity Monitor, searched for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," forced quit that process, and Relaunched Finder in the Force Quit menu. Worked like a charm.

Don't know if that's helpful for you or anyone else, but just wanted to put that out there!
View attachment 1923709
THANK YOU! WOW!!!! I registered just to say that! You don't know how to get Logic Pro running on the new m1macs to be more stable do you?? LIFESAVER
 

dan2603

macrumors newbie
May 22, 2022
1
2
Hey there! I don't know if you've found a solution to this yet, but I was just having the same problem and after some troubleshooting, I got my preview icons to work again!

Basically I opened up Activity Monitor, searched for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," forced quit that process, and Relaunched Finder in the Force Quit menu. Worked like a charm.

Don't know if that's helpful for you or anyone else, but just wanted to put that out there!
View attachment 1923709
Thank you so much. You saved my life. Had this problem with my external hard drive. And yeah, I made an account too to thank you.
 

thedreamking

macrumors newbie
Dec 14, 2021
28
36
Hey there! I don't know if you've found a solution to this yet, but I was just having the same problem and after some troubleshooting, I got my preview icons to work again!

Basically I opened up Activity Monitor, searched for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," forced quit that process, and Relaunched Finder in the Force Quit menu. Worked like a charm.

Don't know if that's helpful for you or anyone else, but just wanted to put that out there!
View attachment 1923709

Had this issue pop up spontaneously on my MBP M1 Max, and this solved the issue. Thank you for the assist!
 

Artiste212

macrumors regular
Aug 26, 2012
143
73
Hey there! I don't know if you've found a solution to this yet, but I was just having the same problem and after some troubleshooting, I got my preview icons to work again!

Basically I opened up Activity Monitor, searched for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," forced quit that process, and Relaunched Finder in the Force Quit menu. Worked like a charm.

Don't know if that's helpful for you or anyone else, but just wanted to put that out there!
View attachment 1923709
So I just saw this problem for the first time today on my M1 Mini. I used your techniqe and it worked like a charm. Another thank you for a very helpful tip!
 

smoking monkey

macrumors 68020
Mar 5, 2008
2,364
1,508
I HUNGER
Thanks again to AndreBob for giving us our sanity back. It definitely works, but I'm finding it reverts more and more often as time goes on. Today I probably did the fix 12-15 times. I sort of remember a script that somebody posted that runs and stops it??? Or is that my imagination. I think it was on this site. MR actually posted a guide to fix this. Maybe it's on there.

Has anybody found a permanent solution? Extremely annoying and actually unacceptable. I wonder if AppleCare have a solution? May have to call them.
 
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Alitura

macrumors newbie
Jun 17, 2022
1
2
Hey there! I don't know if you've found a solution to this yet, but I was just having the same problem and after some troubleshooting, I got my preview icons to work again!

Basically I opened up Activity Monitor, searched for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," forced quit that process, and Relaunched Finder in the Force Quit menu. Worked like a charm.

Don't know if that's helpful for you or anyone else, but just wanted to put that out there!
View attachment 1923709
Bravo 👏 👏👏👏👏👏
 

EthanDMathews

macrumors member
Mar 23, 2022
34
37
Los Angeles, California
try finder>view>show view options, and uncheck/check (or check) "show icon preview". then organize that, it's the most terriyfing thing i've ever seen.

anyway, see if that helps...
Thank you! This helped me fix my issue*. Much appreciated!

* After rebooting, my Mac wasn't snowing the thumbnails of any of my desktop image files, screen shots or otherwise. Unchecking and re-checking "show icon preview" did the trick.
 
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Torley

macrumors member
Dec 3, 2008
57
24
@andrebob THANK YOU for the force-quit "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent" tip! I had previously been deleting the icon cache and restarting my Mac, but this is a lot less disruptive. I still see it happens on occasion and I'm not sure why, but... at least this is a quick remedy. Appreciation for the gift that keeps on giving.

For others where this doesn't work, have you tried this? https://eclecticlight.co/2019/01/30...ments-icon-display-properly-beyond-quicklook/
 

smoking monkey

macrumors 68020
Mar 5, 2008
2,364
1,508
I HUNGER
@andrebob THANK YOU for the force-quit "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent" tip! I had previously been deleting the icon cache and restarting my Mac, but this is a lot less disruptive. I still see it happens on occasion and I'm not sure why, but... at least this is a quick remedy. Appreciation for the gift that keeps on giving.

For others where this doesn't work, have you tried this? https://eclecticlight.co/2019/01/30...ments-icon-display-properly-beyond-quicklook/
It's still happening for me. Nowhere near as often, but it has become tiresome at this point. I read the link you posted and that seems to identify the underlying problem and that it will never go away unless something is done about it. I'm now wondering if upgrading to Ventura in a month or two will get rid of this issue or not as the article states that installing a new OS will resolve the issue. But does that mean wiping the computer and installing or just an upgrade... mmm... I guess time will tell. It is much easier to re install an OS now with an M1/M2 so it's mainly just DLing any apps again.
 

Torley

macrumors member
Dec 3, 2008
57
24
@smoking monkey Sorry to hear that, sounds frustrating. I've been in similar situations with other issues before where I held out until I could install a new OS. I wonder if you've tried creating a new user on the same current OS and seeing if you can reproduce the same issue? I know that might be time-consuming. You could also try a current OS repair.

(Also, cool Sinistar profile icon!)

In my own case, I ran into the no-thumbnails again after restarting my machine, and just wanted to report that quitting "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent" worked again.
 
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smoking monkey

macrumors 68020
Mar 5, 2008
2,364
1,508
I HUNGER
@smoking monkey Sorry to hear that, sounds frustrating. I've been in similar situations with other issues before where I held out until I could install a new OS. I wonder if you've tried creating a new user on the same current OS and seeing if you can reproduce the same issue? I know that might be time-consuming. You could also try a current OS repair.

(Also, cool Sinistar profile icon!)

In my own case, I ran into the no-thumbnails again after restarting my machine, and just wanted to report that quitting "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent" worked again.
Thanks for the idea. We aren't far away from the new OS so I'm going to wait it out. If it still happens after that I'll contact Apple. But honestly, I think the answer will be -- wipe computer and reinstall. It's a PITA, but in the end it won't be such a bad thing. Good chance to get the computer lean, mean and clean!

Yeah, the quit thumbnails agent works every time. It's just how long it lasts for me is the question.

Sinistar - play it in the cabinet it originally released in and it is absolutely spine chilling!
 

smoking monkey

macrumors 68020
Mar 5, 2008
2,364
1,508
I HUNGER
Update: The dot upgrade we got a few weeks ago or whenever that was seems to have mostly fixed the issue for me. I've only had it happen once since then. It hasn't happened in over 3 days now and before it was at least 3 times a day.
 
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The Main Event

macrumors member
Aug 30, 2008
31
10
Hey there! I don't know if you've found a solution to this yet, but I was just having the same problem and after some troubleshooting, I got my preview icons to work again!

Basically I opened up Activity Monitor, searched for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," forced quit that process, and Relaunched Finder in the Force Quit menu. Worked like a charm.

Don't know if that's helpful for you or anyone else, but just wanted to put that out there!
View attachment 1923709
20 something years Mac user and I never knew about this trick lol. Worked like a charm.
 
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smoking monkey

macrumors 68020
Mar 5, 2008
2,364
1,508
I HUNGER
Update: The dot upgrade we got a few weeks ago or whenever that was seems to have mostly fixed the issue for me. I've only had it happen once since then. It hasn't happened in over 3 days now and before it was at least 3 times a day.
So the 2nd to last dot update helped significantly as I wrote above, but the dot update after that sent it back to square one for me... I hope Mac OS whateveritisthistime fixes it.
 

brinkeguthrie

macrumors regular
Jul 22, 2020
236
55
Still happening to me, I do the com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent and it comes back. Whadda I do? Will Ventura fix this?
 

Mcrumors David

macrumors regular
Oct 8, 2014
190
77
Hey there! I don't know if you've found a solution to this yet, but I was just having the same problem and after some troubleshooting, I got my preview icons to work again!

Basically I opened up Activity Monitor, searched for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," forced quit that process, and Relaunched Finder in the Force Quit menu. Worked like a charm.

Don't know if that's helpful for you or anyone else, but just wanted to put that out there!
View attachment 1923709

Thank you
 

smoking monkey

macrumors 68020
Mar 5, 2008
2,364
1,508
I HUNGER
Thanks; I've tried that and it works for awhile, then comes back.
It's now totally out of control for me. It's happening every 30mins. It's worse than it's ever been. Whatever they fixed 2 releases ago, they broke 1 release ago. I can't wait for the new OS now to hopefully fix this. If it doesn't, I'll clean install. PITA, but I know that's what Apple will tell me to do in the end.
 

Yubukai

macrumors newbie
Dec 10, 2017
3
0
Hey there! I don't know if you've found a solution to this yet, but I was just having the same problem and after some troubleshooting, I got my preview icons to work again!

Basically I opened up Activity Monitor, searched for a process called "com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent," forced quit that process, and Relaunched Finder in the Force Quit menu. Worked like a charm.

Don't know if that's helpful for you or anyone else, but just wanted to put that out there!
View attachment 1923709
You are a star, thank you!
 

azshalle

macrumors newbie
Mar 19, 2019
1
0
Has Ventura fixed this?
No. Ventura seems to have made this worse, from my experience. I'm amazed this has been such a widespread problem since 2021 or earlier and Apple has done little about it. I miss having clean thumbnails without a white border.

I've tried all solutions posted in this thread (force quitting, etc), and the only thing I've found that works for me is clicking show info on the image file, then select the file thumbnail in the top left corner, then press delete. Unfortunately this needs to be done for each individual image, so good luck if you have hundreds or thousands of photos to sort through.
 

smoking monkey

macrumors 68020
Mar 5, 2008
2,364
1,508
I HUNGER
No. Ventura seems to have made this worse, from my experience. I'm amazed this has been such a widespread problem since 2021 or earlier and Apple has done little about it. I miss having clean thumbnails without a white border.

I've tried all solutions posted in this thread (force quitting, etc), and the only thing I've found that works for me is clicking show info on the image file, then select the file thumbnail in the top left corner, then press delete. Unfortunately this needs to be done for each individual image, so good luck if you have hundreds or thousands of photos to sort through.
I wonder if your issue is slightly different perhaps???
Maybe you might need to do a clean install and not use a time machine backup to set up. It's a PITA though.

Haven't had it happen since Ventura.
Same. Updating to Ventura solved the issue for me... so far. It hasn't happened even once since the upgrade. I'm hoping it stays that way because it was becoming rather frustrating.
 
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